01:30 Sasae Kenichiro, Japanese Ambassador to the US also in attendance

01:41 Meeting with Sugiyama Shinsuke , Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Toyohisa Kozuki , General Director of European Affairs also in attendance.

02:01 Meeting with Sugiyama Yasumasa and Nagamine Anesei, Deputy Ministers of foreign affairs; Kozuki, General Director of the European Affairs; Bando Kumiko, Education, Director-General of Higher Education Bureau; and Director of the Ministry of Finance Ishiguro Norihiko all in attendance

Monday, November 11, 2013

Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa’s cameo in a music video of “Fall-in-Love Fortune Cookie,”by J-pop‘s most popular girl group AKB48 has been viewed by 2.4 million people since it was launched in October. The Wall Street Journal's JapanRealTime Blog gives a good history of viral video.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

A version of this essay first appeared in Asia Policy Point's Asia Policy Calendar, November 3, 2013. The authors are Research Interns at APP, Mr.Michael Sutherland (Nebraska Wesleyan University) and Ms. Jessie Ding (Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania).

There are many
expectations for China’s Third Plenum Meeting of its
18th Party Congress. During the November 9-12 meeting, President Xi Jinping is
expected announce new, “liberal” economic reforms to accelerate the country’s internationalization.
These financial and structural adjustments are unlikely to be matched on the
political side. Nevertheless, as China engages in this “Opening Up 2.0,” its success can be used by the international
community to exact more accountability from the Chinese government on human
rights and political liberties.

Economists agree
that the Chinese growth model needs to be reworked if it is going to remain
sustainable. Brookings economist David Dollar notes: “On the demand
side there needs to be a shift from investment to consumption…. Opening up to foreign
investment and foreign trade is an important part of that agenda.” Xi’s reforms
are expected to include a loosening of state controls and regulations to
encourage foreign direct investment. As part of this opening to foreign
investment, the United States and China have begun discussing the
possibility of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). China may also seek
membership in the TPP, further opening itself to negotiations with the United
States.

Chinese direct
investment in the United States has expanded tremendously over the past five
years, from $879 million in 2008 to $12.2 billion in 2013. On October 31st,
President Barak Obama issued a
statement that his administration is committed to bringing more foreign
investment to the United States. Given how much the Chinese already invest in
the United States and the amount of capital they have to spare, it seems likely
that each of economy will become more intertwined.

In contrast, the Xi
government has tried to restrain civil society and liberties. Over this summer,
the government began enforcing what is
known as the “Seven Speak-Nots” (七不讲）. This policy prohibits the media, intellectuals, and university
professors from discussing certain subjects in public. These include freedom of
the press, civil society, and past mistakes of the Chinese Communist Party. In
October Xia Yeliang, a professor at Peking University, was dismissed for
discussing the internet as a tool for political reform. Mr. Xia reportedly has
ties with the New Citizens’ Movement, a group of activists and academics in
China who organize public meetings to call for political reforms.

Guo Feixiong, a
leader of the New Citizens’ Movement, was was detained in Guangzhou on August 8th and formally arrested on October 17th. At an October 29th House Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee
on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations hearing “Guo Feixiong and
Freedom of Expression in China,” Mr. Guo’s wife and daughter testified
alongside prominent Chinese civil rights activists Reverend Bob Fu and Chen Guangcheng. Each urged the
Obama administration to appeal publicly to the Chinese government to release
Guo Feixiong.

Both Reverend Fu
and Mr. Chen suggested further measures that the Obama administration
should press while negotiating with the Chinese government. Mr. Chen urged the
United States government to commit to making the annual Human Rights Dialogue
with the PRC an event that is on par with and connected to the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED). Top
officials from each government attend the SED, including the U.S. Secretaries
of State and Treasury. However, the Human Rights Dialogue is conducted behind
closed doors and involves mostly lower-level officials, allowing China to
dismiss the event as insignificant. Reverend Fu felt that the HR Dialogue should
be broadcast live, in order for the public to hold Chinese officials
accountable for what they say.

China’s new focus on foreign
investment possibly provides a political environment similar to when the
country was trying to gain its Most-Favored-Nation trade status. China’s
willingness to abide by international norms was a major factor in its success.
The international laws and regulations needed to expand investment, therefore,
should also come with conditions. The bilateral investment treaties can include
stipulations regarding human rights and corporate social responsibilities.

The results of the Third
Plenum may provide an indirect opportunity to influence political reform in
China. Societal responsibilities and accountability are now at the core of today's global financial transactions. China's leadership wants something from the international community—market
access and respect—that should not be given lightly. Human rights can and should again be
tied to investment agreements and market access.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Professor David Simon is interviewed at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale about building state capacity to prevent atrocity crimes. He reflects upon Rwanda now 20 years after that country's Genocide of the Tutsis and how the international community can best respond to such atrocities. Unsaid are the lessons learned from the war crimes of WWII.

Working from a simplified model of how mass-atrocity threats unfold, the brief seeks to enumerate the types of interventions best suited to derail that process. It begins with state-level capacity building, consistent with the standard formulation of the first pillar of the R2P framework.

Because state authorities and individual elites are often complicit in mass atrocity crimes, however, a robust capacity-building effort should also reinforce the capacity of a broader cross section of stakeholders, including nonstate actors, to strengthen social and institutional resilience in the face of mass atrocity threats.

He argues that international cooperation should support such in-country efforts, while noting some of the complications that are likely to arise in doing so. He suggests that domestic efforts and international assistance should be supplemented with ongoing internal reviews, peer evaluations, and monitoring.

David Simon is a Lecturer, Political Science and Ethics, Politics & Economics; Director of Graduate Studies African Studies at Yale University. He studies African politics, focusing on the politics of development assistance and post-conflict situations, particularly in Rwanda. He is editor of the Historical Dictionary of Zambia, and has contributed to Comparative Political Studies, The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, and The Journal of Genocide Research. He also teaches classes on international relations in Africa and the comparative politics of development.

11:50 Arrival at TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma
prefecture, Futaba Ryocho. Talk with worker in the main anti-earthquake
building

PM

12:02 Visit contaminated water storage facilities

12:09 Talk with media outlets

12:41 Departure

03:06 Arrival at J-Village

03:33 Departure from J-Village

04:11 Arrival at JR Iwaki station

04:17 Departure from Super Hitachi No. 54

06:34 Arrival at JR Ueno station

06:52 Arrival at restaurant Hirayama in Ginza. Dinner with Hiroshi
Mikitani, President of Rakuten; Susumu Fujita, Cyber Agent President and Masato
Matsuura, Avex Group Holdings President

09:01 Departure from restaurant

09:17 Arrival at Hotel New Otani in Tokyo, Kioicho. Round Table with Taichi
Sakaiya, Cabinet participation, Aoki Hironori
AOKI Holdings chairman, and Hiroshi Yamada House of Representatives member of
the society of Japan Meiji Restoration in the rooms.

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